China's vice premier to meet US delegation for trade talks
Chinese vice premier He Lifeng will meet with the US treasury secretary, commerce secretary, and trade representative. (EPA Images pic)
BEIJING : Chinese vice premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced today amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers.
He will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said He and American representatives will co-chair the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism.
US President Donald Trump had already announced on Friday that a new round of trade talks with China would kick off in London beginning Monday, after he spoke by phone with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team.
The discussions will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world's two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House in January.
A first meeting, held in mid-May in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade dispute.
But Trump then accused Beijing of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement.
On Thursday the Republican president finally discussed the issues with Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring that the conversation had been positive.
Xi for his part told Trump the two should 'correct the course' of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media.
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